In order to operate on a wireless network, a wireless device (which can include, but is not limited to a wireless phone) generally must be a subscriber on the network, (except for cases in which a wireless devices operates in a roaming mode on a foreign network). To identify the device to the network as a subscriber, a wireless provider generally undertakes a practice referred to herein as “activation,” in which the phone is identified to the network using an identifier (such as an international mobile subscriber identifier (“IMSI”) or similar identifying number, which, in many cases, is encoded on a subscriber identity module “SIM” in the wireless device). In a general sense, this process involves creating, in a home location register (“HLR”), a record for the device; in some cases, the record comprises the identifying number, as well as an addressing number (e.g., a phone number for a wireless phone), such as an international ISDN number (“MSISDN”) or similar number. This record identifies the device to the network and provides information about the capabilities of the device. Without such a record in an HLR, the device generally will be inoperable on the wireless network.
Hence, when a user purchases a new wireless device, the user's wireless provider generally must activate the device before the user can use the device on the provider's network. There are, in general, three different ways in which a wireless device can be activated.
In the first case, the wireless device is preactivated prior to sale of the device to the user. This process is used most frequently for prepaid wireless phones. Under a preactivation scheme, the device has installed therein a SIM that is assigned an activated IMSI before the device ever is sold. This technique, while technically feasible, has several downsides. First, because the IMSI is assigned and activated before the device is sold, there is enhanced risk of theft and other supply-chain “leakage.” Second, this technique requires substantial investment in allocating and activating IMSIs early in the supply chain, resulting in inefficiencies (for example, maintain a relatively large stock of activated IMSIs corresponding to devices that may not be sold or used for some time). Moreover, if the supply chain involves rebranding the devices, some of the allocated and activated IMSIs might never be used. Moreover, preactivation of a SIM generally requires the assignment of an MSISDN to the SIM (by associating the MSISDN with the IMSI assigned to the SIM). Given that IMSIs (and, especially, MSISDNs) can be relatively scarce resources, this solution is less than optimal.
In the second case, the wireless device is activated at the point of sale. While this technique is suitable for applications in which the device is sold at a relatively sophisticated reseller or agent of the wireless provider, it is unavailable in many cases (including, for example, in the case of prepaid phones or phones that are purchased at locations other than dedicated resellers).
The third option is to sell a wireless device in an unactivated state and require the user to activate the phone before using it. Because, as noted above, the device is inoperable on the network until activation, the device itself cannot generally be used as the activation vehicle. Hence, the user will have to call the provider (using a different phone), visit the provider's website (using a separate computer or some other device), and/or the like. This option, while sometimes the only available option, is less than desirable because it imposes an inconvenience on the user, resulting in a competitive disadvantage for the provider in relation to techniques that do not impose this inconvenience on the user.
Moreover, existing techniques for activating wireless devices offer the user limited (if any) input into the phone number (e.g., MSISDN) that the device will be assigned.
So, it is clear that conventional techniques for activating telecommunications services typically require users to go through a multi-stage process. Even for a user who is evaluating a telecommunications service, the user is typically required to experience a multi-stage process and delays between stages before being able to evaluate a telecommunications service to decide whether to use the telecommunications service. For example, a user is typically asked, in one stage, to provide contact information (e.g., name, address, or other contact information). In another stage, a user is typically asked to provide billing information (e.g., a credit card number). After contact and billing information has been provided, if required, activating a telecommunications service is itself a multiple stage process.
Furthermore, conventional methods of provisioning and activation a telecommunication service typically involve communications over a telephone, over the internet (world wide web) on a computer, or over a fax machine with paper requests. This also causes inconvenience to the customers or potential customers in procuring telecommunications services on the go when hardware equipment such as a computer or fax machine, or services such as internet connections are not readily available.
So, mobile phone setup is time consuming and restrictive to consumers. Additionally, once a mobile phone and service plan have been setup for a consumer, the wireless network needs to be informed of the mobile phone and the mobile phone thereafter needs to register with the wireless network whenever being used. Registration requires a location update request be sent from the mobile phone to the wireless network. In the case of initial phone setup, since location update is triggered on power-up, typically the person configuring the mobile phone would be required to power-off and then power-on the mobile phone to render it active on the wireless network.
All of these identified issues are exacerbated by regulatory issues within the North American markets. In particular, because of numbering regulations in the US it is not currently possible to sell SIM (subscriber identity module) cards that are ‘pre-activated’ and can be simply inserted into a GSM based mobile phone device and start operating with a service without running through a manual activation process. So currently, although SIM cards can be sold apart from the mobile device, they must be activated by the hand of the consumer before usage. The issue that this creates is that the SIM Card (as sold) is useless unless the new customer contacts the carrier to activate his/her service. As described above, this is generally via dealer assisted activation, Internet/online activation, or by phone support activation. If the customer only has cash to pay, the options are reduced to ‘dealer assisted’ model only.
Standard wireless industry practices also hinder the ability to pre-activate a SIM card, since a pre-activated and unsold wireless product would not be able to be distinguished from a truly active device with a user therefore making financial reporting used for billing between vendors and license providers which are used to support the user very cumbersome.
What this means is that, effectively, the SIM Card cannot be sold and activated without depending on some other means of communication to the provider.
This inherently reduces the market to which mobile service can be sold and limiting the options for traditional cell phone distribution in respect to non-English speaking travelers to the US, anyone who does not have a credit card, immigrants, people who need emergency cell service but do not want to pay for a plan when they are not using it and many other population segments.
Dealer Network and Commissioning
The mobile services industry today works like many service and sales industries. A service provider signs up dealers to sell their service. The model is universal and, while it has many variations always comes down to a basic process:                1) An entity (retail shop, individual or distribution owner) signs up to sell the service.        2) The provider authorizes that entity to sell.        3) The entity sells service.        4) The carrier pays commissions to the entity based on confirmed sales or at point of activation.        
While this model seems straightforward, it has drawbacks for providers. These include:                1) The dealers command increasing commissions, as there are more service providers in each dealer channel that are not growing (with limited shelf space).        2) Signing up and vetting dealers is time consuming and costly.        3) Not all dealers are trustworthy, so activation fraud is a constant threat.        4) Commissions must be calculated and paid. This is a considerable administrative burden as ‘chargebacks’, ‘churn’ and ‘fraudulent activations’ have to calculated and reduce commissions. It is cumbersome.        
There is thus a need to avoid the various inconveniences and inefficiencies of conventional mobile phone setup. It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate some or all of the above-noted disadvantages.